Waking up isn’t easy

Waking up in a new world isn't easy, particularly when it starts feeling like a dream. Our protagonist was sleeping somewhere in England when a voice entered his tranquil mind. It was as empty and mindless as the endless void he was seeing, and the words that echoed forth made its surface ripple like a dark ocean.

"Choose a species."

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵? He moved in his sleep. 𝘒𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘦, he thought, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭.

"Error, identifying; species must be humanoid."

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘯𝘰… 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘹 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 – 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘣, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘺. 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘦 – 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪-𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳.

"Species chosen – humanoid kitsune." 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴. "Choose a special trait."

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘹𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘶𝘺, 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦.

"List too long; the last article will be removed. Special trait chosen – to not eat, drink, or forget." 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦? 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸, 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱. "Choose a name."

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦; 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘰 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘬𝘢. 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. Finally, he felt himself falling back to sleep and let out a long and happy sigh within his mind. The rest of his night was dreamless.

Eventually, light from beyond his squeezed-shut eyelids woke him. 𝘠𝘢𝘸𝘯, 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘵 – 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴? Then he recalled in perfect detail how he had closed the curtains the previous night, watching the event back as though it were a movie within his mind.

𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦. He realised he could remember anything he wanted from within his life, from what was written in his school textbooks to what he had eaten for breakfast three weeks ago – ok, that one wasn't so tricky; he had the same cereal every day.

Smiling in spite of himself at his newfound power, he took a while to realise that he was standing upright. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 – 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. Swaying on his feet, he rubbed at his eyes and careful coerced them into opening.

With the sudden inflow of light, he stepped back into a wall, feeling something soft contact it behind him before the rest of his body did. Spooked, he over-compensated and fell forwards, landing deftly on hands that weren't his and on a flagstone walkway.

Trying to calm himself down with slow breaths, he looked around. Now that his eyes were acclimatised, the surroundings weren't that bright at all. In fact, the sky had an early-morning dullness.

He was standing at the side of a flagstone street lined by rows of tall townhouses with steep rooves. The street continued into a wide marketplace to his left, and to the right, it went towards a gatehouse that led outside the apparent settlement he was in.

Strangely enough, the only other people around weren't in the buildings but also dotted the streets, all looking as confused as he was sure he did. Among the crowds were demi-humans, some people with scales, and some people he thought were humans had pointed ears – elves!

He looked down at his hands again, they were pale and slender, and his nails looked longer and thicker than he remembered. Turning to peer in the window of the building behind him, he saw his face reflected in the glass.

It was the face of a very worried-looking kitsune. It had short-ish white hair, pale blue eyes, enlarged canines, and fit his mental image of what a kitsune should be really well. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘦, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? He cringed. 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵, 𝘰𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘥'𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴.... Behind him swung a thick, white tail, and he had a pair of foxy ears on his head.

𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴! Bewildered, he wasn't sure what to do. However, a white square in the top right of his vision took hold of his attention. Trying to see it clearly, it was always in his peripheral until he 'willed' it to become larger. Then it grew to dominate his sight.

It was like a game interface's character sheet with a menu off to one side. It had a small picture of himself as he now was with the name 'Shiro Minnosuka' printed above it along with 'Level 0'. 𝘖𝘬, Shiro hurriedly read through his traits:

𝙆𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙪𝙣𝙚:

𝙍𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚: 𝘿𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣.

𝙍𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝: 𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘.

𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡: 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙖𝙩, 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠, 𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩.

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘙𝘗𝘎, 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯? 𝘖𝘩, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘥'𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘐𝘴𝘦𝘬𝘢𝘪 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘐? 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 0 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦-𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭. 𝘏𝘦𝘺, 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘦, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦.

He checked through the whole of the menu, finding he had a balance of ten gold coins but no apparent inventory or friend's list. In addition, it stated the date and time at the top: 08:07, 1𝙨𝙩 𝙅𝙖𝙣, 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧 0000.

Around him, the noise level was picking up, so he willed the menu to close and then accidentally locked eyes with a few very angry-looking people before looking at his feet. From what he could hear, everyone was in the same situation as him, but talking to them would be useless; they were panicking, as was he to a certain extent.

As someone who prided himself on analytics, his mind was worryingly out of control with fleeting thoughts. The one that took precedence, though, was simple; escape. In such a bubbling atmosphere, it was easy to see that something might give, and he didn't want to stick around if people started fighting. 𝘖𝘬, 𝘰𝘬, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Nodding to himself, he started walking towards the city gate, trying to stay out of people's way as they shouted questions he couldn't answer. As he went, to try and keep himself calm, he started trying to rationalise the situation.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭, 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦. 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯. 𝘐 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 '𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯' 𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦? 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘵 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 – 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘦.

He approached a street corner and chose to navigate a winding route towards the city gate as the main way was now swarming with upset people. Whilst he did so, he checked what equipment he was carrying. Aside from his basic tanned clothes, he had a rucksack which contained a knife and a water flask, and that was it.

𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 '𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥' 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥? 𝘐𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘺 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘭? 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘴? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳.

Arriving at the main gate, he snuck underneath it, noting that it had a sliding portcullis and a pair of large wooden gates that could fit a couple of carts side-by-side. 𝘐𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺? Looking at the city's defences from the outside, he saw that they mainly consisted of a single wall, eighteen-feet high, dotted with towers.

𝘈 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴…. 𝘗𝘭𝘶𝘴, 𝘪𝘵'𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯. Sighing, Shiro continued further outside – the only person to have left Hallen thus far. He followed a dirt track that wound down towards a woodland before looking back at the city.

𝘐𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵? He second-guessed himself, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬, 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬. Sticking to the path, he made his mind up to try and understand more about this world.